The 27’s – Pete de Freitas 1961 - 1989

Part 26 in a series on “The 27’s” – notable musicians who have passed away in their 27th year.

Pete Louis Vincent de Freitas was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago and joined the Echo and the Bunnymen in 1979. Pete was not one of the founding members of the band, as he was brought into the band to replace the drum machine that had been used on their first album. He quickly proved that he was much more than an average drummer, providing the beats on the albums; Crocodiles, Porcupine, Heaven Up Here, and Ocean Rain.

In early 1986, Pete became disillusioned with the band and left for a new project called The Sex Gods. Pete went to New Orleans with the idea to work “totally off chance” and “to get away on holiday and come back with more than just memories.”

The New Orleans trip soon became less about the music and more about rock 'n' roll excess. De Freitas totaled two cars, two motorcycles, and nearly himself. He reportedly consumed mass amounts of drugs, alcohol and stayed awake for eighteen days straight.

Mars Williams, who was invited to join the group, remembers, “[De Freitas] was singing, and also decided that he was going to play guitar. We rehearsed a bit in the house, wrote and worked on songs, and then we went into the studio and recorded some of it. The thing that was really bad about the band was that Pete should’ve been playing drums, because he was a great drummer, and the guy that was playing drums wasn’t. And Pete was not a good guitarist, so who knows what he was trying to do. It was more like Pete’s friends hanging out”

During the summer the band recorded some songs, but this line-up wouldn’t last for long. As his finances dwindled, members of The Sex Gods began drifting home one-by-one, expressing concerns about De Freitas’ mental health. By the end of 1986 Pete had rejoined the Bunnymen for good and The Sex Gods disbanded.

The Bunnymen never found their way back to the success that they had once achieved. Vocalist Ian McCulloch left the band and the three remaining members started recording with a new singer. In 1989, the new line up were in rehearsals in Liverpool and Pete was on his way there when he crashed his motorcycle on a back road near Rugely in Staffordshire.